China’s Belt and Road Initiative in the Pacific Islands
The Pacific states that have signed up to the Belt & Road Initiative are Fiji, Vanuatu, Solomon islands, Kiribati, Micronesia, Samoa, Tonga, Cook Islands and Niue. While Australia as a nation is not a signatory, the State of Victoria signed a memorandum of understanding on 29/10/2018 on joint construction of the Belt and Road with the China National Development and Reform Commission (China Daily 2018). China and New Zealand signed a “memorandum of arrangement” in March 2017 to develop a work plan for the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) within 18 months. The plan was delayed due to a change in the Government. (Sachdeva, 2020). Francois Martel, formerly of the Pacific Islands Development Forum (PIDF), said that China has made amazing changes over the past decades and China’s relations with the Pacific island countries will be further strengthened under the Belt & Road Initiative (BRI), which has already helped promote the social and economic development in the region.
“Over the past years, China has shown respect to the island countries and has invested a lot and has provided a lot of assistance. What China has done is mutually beneficial and a win-win situation. China has not imposed its views upon others, and this is different from other donors. This is why China has been welcomed in our region.” (CAC 9/2019)
Mr Martel said that BRI is a great platform and driver for the cooperation between the Pacific region and China, and it has helped boost the social and economic development in this region.
“BRI will no doubt help develop the world, especially the developing countries like those in the South Pacific region to improve their out of date infrastructures. There are a lot of examples; you can see the state of the art of the newly-built Samoan capital airport and the China-aided bridges in the Fijian capital of Suva.
“This will surely promote the island nation’s tourism, ease traffic congestion and help develop the local economy. BRI can inject impetus to advance the cooperation, and the Pacific Islands Development Forum can play a key role to become a good voice of BRI co-operation, and to help promote BRI co-operation based on mutual respect and common development in this region.” (CAC 9/2019)